Dementia Friendly Newcastle

Newcastle is committed to becoming a Dementia Friendly city. This is a place where people living with dementia are:

understood
respected
supported
included
involved
confident they can contribute to their community
have choice and control in their lives
can find local help and support

It is a place where everyone is aware of and understands dementia.

Newcastle City Council is working in partnership with local communities and businesses. They want to ensure people with dementia and their carers feel safe and live in the way they want to in their community.

Newcastle Council’s Dementia Friendly Newcastle project brings people living with dementia and their carers together with community partners to improve wellbeing, take part in activities and increase knowledge of local support available.

Advice and Information

You can read more about Dementia on InformationNOW including diagnosis local information, help and support and caring for someone with dementia

Understanding Dementia Sessions

To help you understand how dementia may impact on a persons life, what services you may be involved with and how you can make a difference, you may want to take part in an information or training session:

Dementia Friends Information Sessions give you a better understanding of the types of dementia, how it affects people and their carers as well as dementia friendly actions you can take.

FutureLearn run some free online courses created by Universities, such as The many faces of dementia: by University College London.

Bridging the Dementia Divide is a free dementia course from University of Derby

Unison offer their trade union members free training and learning opportunities. They have some dementia awareness sessions in Newcastle. Contact your local representative for more information.

Support

Dementia Friendly groups and activities

Memory cafes and dementia support groups are a safe, comfortable and supportive environment for people with dementia and their carers to socialise. They also provide information about living with dementia and local services that are available. Other dementia friendly activities and groups available in Newcastle include day clubs, dementia friendly sports, gardening and singing groups.

Newcastle City Library run a memory cafe for people affected by memory loss and their carers.

Search Newcastle run regular memory cafes, singing for your brain and other dementia-friendly groups.

Silverline Memories run a dementia activity centre, and a number of activity, support, and day groups, as well as day trips. They also offer welfare benefits advice, advocacy and health and social care navigation.

Newcastle United Football Club (NUFC) run a monthly football themed memory cafe at St James’ Park on the last Thursday of the month.

St Martins Centre run a dementia Memory tea group with activities and information on benefits and lasting power of attorney.

Chain Reaction run dementia friendly groups including a Memory Tea at Gosforth with opportunity to chat, have a cuppa, play games and socialise with others; as well as a dementia friendly gardening session. Places are limited. Call to find out more information and book a place.

Scotswood Garden run dementia friendly gardening sessions.

Cornerstone Benwell run woodwork sessions for people with dementia and memory loss.

St Georges Church, Jesmond run a dementia-friendly singing group on Fridays.

Newcastle United Foundation run dementia-friendly walking football sessions.

Equal Arts Creative Age sessions run in various locations in Newcastle and Gateshead. These are friendly, creative and inclusive sessions for older adults exploring art in a dementia-friendly environment. They also run HenPower, bringing hen-keeping and creativity to people living in care.

Reading with dementia is a project from Equal Arts and Newcastle Libraries creating books, publications and dementia friendly resources for people living with dementia. They also run free, creative workshops in Newcastle.

Search for dementia groups and activities using our events calendar to find more dementia friendly events on InformationNOW.

Protecting vulnerable people

Safe and Found Online is the Digital Information Bank working to protect and safeguard vulnerable people. People with dementia sometimes get lost and go missing. This is a national scheme to record useful information about a vulnerable person that can be used by police if the person goes missing. Carers, family members and friends can complete the online form to give details about the person they care for including: medication needed, emergency contacts, places they’ve lived previously and a photograph.

The form can be accessed immediately by Northumbria Police if needed. It can make a real difference. This means you don’t have to remember the information when you are under stress if someone goes missing. And it saves time, so the police can start the search sooner.

The Herbert Protocol, is the national scheme that Safe and Found Online is based on. You can download a paper copy of the form. You can fill in this form on your computer or print it out and fill it in by hand. Keep it somewhere safe where you can easily find it if the person goes missing. You could give a copy to friends, family and neighbours. Keep this information up to date whenever something changes. You only need to give the form to the police if the person goes missing.

Living well

Getting involved

You may be interested in volunteering and talking about your experiences of dementia:

Alzheimers Society Newcastle run a Dementia Voice Local group where people living with dementia and carers can share experiences, be part of focus groups and get involved with local, regional and national projects.

Join Dementia Research offer opportunities to be involved in local, regional and national research studies.

Dementias & Neurogenerative Diseases Research Network (NE-DeNDRoN) is a local network of clinicians who conduct research into dementia and other related conditions.

Valuing Our Intellectual Capital and Experience (VOICE) at Newcastle University, involves members of the public in research. You can become a member of VOICE and work with academics to improve the focus, quality, relevance and impact of research, to make a positive difference to people’s lives.

Dementia Engagement and Empowerment Project (DEEP) have guides written with DEEP groups to share good practice in involving people with dementia in research, focus groups, and meetings.

In the community

Slow or quiet shopping hours are quieter hours with supportive staff at shopping and retail spaces for people living with dementia. Venues in Newcastle that offer quiet hours are:

Eldon Square have regular quiet hours every Tuesday from 10am to 11am and every Saturday 9am to 10am
Sainsbury’s in Gosforth offer the service on Tuesday afternoon
Newcastle Building Society have slow shopping hours at all branches. Ask to find the time at your local branch
Morrisons have quiet hours 2pm to 3pm, Monday to Thursday, 9am to 10am Saturday, and for the first hour of trading on a Sunday at all of their stores
ASDA Byker have quiet hours 2pm to 3pm, Monday to Thursday
Tesco Extra, Brunton Lane in Newcastle has quiet hours Wednesday and Saturday, 9am to 10am
Metro Centre Gateshead have quiet hours every Tuesday 4pm to 6pm and 9am to 10am every Saturday.

Cinemas, museums and galleries

North East Museums have free museum object boxes that you can borrow for up to four weeks. You can use these as part of a guided session. Looking at museums objects, remembering TV, music and hobbies, and telling stories can help improve your mood, with memory issues and to make connections. They have also produced a booklet for professionals in health, care, social and community settings on how to use the object boxes to support people.

Life (Centre for Life) run Relaxed Sessions every Sunday from 10am – 12pm, with fewer visitors, lowered noise and lighting as well as sensory support packs and memory aids. They also offer free admissions for a carer or dedicated assistants for every disabled visitor.

Theatre Royal offer accessible performances including relaxed performances with lowered lighting, noise and a relaxed room.

Libraries

Newcastle Libraries hold the ‘Reading Well‘ collection, a group of books that can help you understand and manage your health and wellbeing. You can access books on dementia as part of this scheme. You can also access their ‘Reading for wellbeing’ initiative, which supports people in Newcastle to discover the health benefits of reading for pleasure, one-to-one support and group activities.

Playlist for Life is a charity that uses music to help people with dementia. All Newcastle Libraries promote and give out the Playlist for Life’s booklet, ‘Create the Soundtrack of Your Life’. The booklet helps people with dementia, along with their carers, to find songs that are important to them and write down the memories these songs bring back.

Newcastle City Library have a Tovertafel (magic table in English) .The Tovertafel projects animations onto table surfaces where people can interact with the light by moving their arms and hands. The light interactive games have been developed for people living with dementia and other disabilities. If you would like a demonstration or to book a session please email the date and time to [email protected] to check for availability.

Newcastle Libraries and Equal Arts run a reading with dementia project which includes working with people living with dementia to publish a series of dementia friendly books.

Jesmond Library have dementia information and books. They also run activities.

Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy Centre brings music therapy to schools, care homes, hospices, hospitals, mental health services, brain injury units and they support people with dementia.

Accessible spaces

People living with dementia can face challenges with their sight, perception of space, navigation or movement. There are venues in Newcastle that are accessible for people living with dementia and those who support them.

Read more about accessible venues in Newcastle

Read more about public and accessible toilets in Newcastle

Resources to become more dementia friendly

Alzheimer’s Society have a range of dementia friendly resources on their website, such as:

Dementia Services Development Centre have a Dementia Friendly Design Tool with dementia friendly design tips for care environments, public spaces, Leisure and activity centres, libraries, supermarkets and shops, transport and more.

Dementia Engagement and Empowerment Project (DEEP) have a checklist you can use to audit how dementia friendly inside spaces and outside spaces are.

Planning Ahead

For people living with dementia and their families, it is important to think about planning ahead for your future care, later life, end of life and your estate after death.

Read Planning Ahead: a guide to think about your choices for later life and end of life. including:

Everything in Place is a free programme of information and advice from St Cuthberts Hospice covering a wide range of areas, including:

Wills
Powers of Attorney
Mental capacity
Advanced Care Planning
Funeral planning
Organ donation
Digital legacy
Having difficult conversations

Both in-person and online sessions are available.

The Marie Curie Wellbeing Centre is an outpatient service at Marie Curie Newcastle for patients with a life limiting condition – including dementia, their family and carers. You must be referred in by a professional. They run a range of groups and services such as:

Art therapy
Complementary therapies
Gardening project
Bereavement support

Read more about Palliative and hospice care

Resources

Navigating the Maze films

Navigating the Maze was a series of webinars for professionals about services for people with dementia and how to access them. The films cover:

Dementia research and innovation with Professor Lynne Corner:

Dementia and housing including assistive technology:

Aids and adaptations for dementia:

Housing options including: assisted living, home care and residential care:

Please note services may have changed since the webinars were released. Please check organisations listings or contact services to check their offer.

Communicating with people living with dementia

Research shows that many people living with dementia experience loneliness and isolation. Most people know someone affected, yet research shows many people aren’t confident in knowing how to communicate with someone who has dementia. A friendly face or a listening ear can make a great difference.

Conversation tips from people living with dementia:

‘Talk to me, smile, be a little patient and give me time to reply.’
‘A simple ‘hello’, ask about the weather, anything that you feel comfortable with.’
‘Just be yourself and yes, we will make mistakes but it’s ok to laugh along with us.’
‘I love it when people ask me questions. It gives me an opportunity to show that people with dementia exist, that we can still contribute to things going on around us and that life goes on. It makes me feel good. It makes me feel like me again’
‘Just don’t ask if I remember.’
‘Don’t be afraid. All it takes is a conversation to see we’re still us.’

Alzheimer’s Society have an article on How to communicate with a person with dementia

Dementia UK have an article on How to communicate with someone with dementia remotely

Accessible information

People living with dementia their family and carers have a right to ask for information in a way that is easiest for them to understand. For example someone living with dementia and a learning disability may want information in plain English and in Easy Read, or someone living with dementia and sight loss may want information spoken to them or an audio version. Your local council and NHS are required to provide this by law.

Read more about Accessible information

Read our article on How to tailor InformationNOW to your access needs

Last updated: June 11, 2026